A pawn used to fight someone else’s battles in someone else’s war. I was a young man, having only seen twenty or so planetary revolutions, when the one named Ventress came. She slaughtered the warlords of our homeworld, Rattatak, and placed herself as ruler of the entire world.

I admit, I was enamoured with adoration for her. I believed in what she, we, were doing. Uniting all of Rattatak under a single ruler would bring about peace, so that we as a species could survive to expand our borders beyond the single harsh planet we were bound to. Fighting amongst others is much more interesting than fighting each other.

It was then that Ventress began to conscript workers to construct a grand citadel for her personal use. We, the workers she chose, thought little of it and only desired to serve. An interesting feeling, subjugation. It happened so intensely that we barely felt it at all, as if our minds were being tricked into submission...

Upon completion of the citadel, many of us disappeared, sent to The Cauldron to live out the final days of our lives. The others, myself included, were kept in the citadel as soldiers, administrators and other such things. Minions, nothing more, to the burgeoning Confederacy of Independent Systems.

****

As the Clone Wars progressed the size of droid garrison that was stationed on Rattatak decreased from a planetary defence force to little more than a token garrison on the main continent.

Lady Ventress disappeared from the galaxy at large during this period, and the minions on the planet Rattatak took their chance and rebelled.
We quickly managed to capture the main citadel that became the main headquarters of our revolution. The biological component of the Rattatak military, known as the Guardians, took control of the droid command headquarters – a landed and partially ‘dug-in’ Lucrehulk-class core-ship, thus taking control of the remainder of the military.

Slowly establishing control over the planet we were stopped short at the end of the Clone Wars when our Droid Army ceased to function. The factions within our own military lost faith in the government’s continued ability to maintain order and, within months, returned to the old ways of the warlords.

After two decades of civil war our first contact with the outside galaxy once again took the form of a seemingly benevolent force. The Galactic Empire that had replaced the Republic we fought against years before had rediscovered our planet and had sent emissaries in an attempt to coerce us into their fold.

The emissaries were quickly kidnapped and killed on a live holo-feed using stolen technologies from their shuttle. Naturally the Empire did not take kindly to our elimination of their ambassadors. Their next mission to our homeworld involved a midsized naval blockade and a large contingent of white-armoured troopers that shot first and never asked questions.

Over a quarter of the population were exterminated before we capitulated to their regime. For years we lived under the harsh rule of the Empire, little more than slaves and tools despite our humanesque origins.

****

After the Battle of Endor, with the mass-exodus of Imperial influence, we finally had a chance to rebuild our world. A corrupt individual named Nykolas had formed a monarchy-type government, with himself as sovereign.

After five years of his tyrannical rule we, the workers and soldiers of his ‘empire’, had had enough. We desired our own freedom and so, after half a year’s worth of negotiations and planning, the soldiers and workers rose up in a series of micro-revolts that lead to a large scale planetary revolution. Brother fought brother, sister fought sister, all for their own perceived beliefs as to how the world should be run.

Myself? I led a small group of soldiers and workers to infiltrate the Grand Citadel where Nykolas had secreted himself. While his forces were out fighting the revolutionaries the citadel was all but defenceless, and the remaining automated defences were little match for Rattataki ingenuity.
Among the rag-tag group of revolutionaries were such people as myself, as leader of the party; Taki Toshi, who would become the People’s Director of both Defence and Foreign Affairs; Sawa Hon, a Colonel in the revolutionary army under Taki; and Hira Noru, a member of the Directorate of Internal Affairs. We quickly made our way to the main command chambers, only to find that Nykolas had departed hours earlier and was nowhere to be found.

****
The fighting continued for a year or so. Keeping in mind that our world is much closer to our star than most others and it orbits once every fifty seven standard days, so the fighting only continued for two standard months, but even that long fighting your brothers and sisters grows emotionally tiresome.

The many factional warlords came together on the third day of the seventh month six years after the battle of Yavin and in talks with the Provisional Government, against whom they had been fighting, unified the people of Rattatak. Though it took another year for the word to spread all over, with the lack of efficient means of communications in the war torn parts of the world.

And thus the work begun to rebuild our world. I was saddened to learn that my friend and comrade Taki Toshi, Director of both Defence and Foreign Affairs had been killed in a small regional skirmish with rebels.
Several men were installed as the sole leader of our world with none being able to cope with the stress for more than a year or two. By the time the galaxy had marked the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Yavin our world seemed once again to be destined for civil war. The central government was crumbling beneath the weight of its own inefficiency, the constant rotation of leadership couldn’t have helped matters.

After a brief meeting with regional leaders a new planetary dictator was chosen to lead. A capable and confident man with years of diplomatic and, more importantly, tactical experience behind him.

Me.

I was a puppet once.

And now I am the puppet master._________________ Field Marshall Leyao Quon

Last edited by Leyao Quon on Thu, September 11th 2008 10:36pm; edited 1 time in total